Sophorolipids are a class of microbial glycolipids and promising modulators of the immune response. Sophorolipids have been used in attempts to treat medical conditions such as sepsis. For example, existing approaches in the area of treatment of sepsis include U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0214795 to Gross entitled “Treatment and Prophylaxis of Sepsis and Septic Shock,” which includes a method and composition for the prophylaxis or treatment of humans or animals for septic shock and sepsis using a mixture of sophorolipids.
Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is an antibody subclass capable of facilitating significant immune system responses. IgE can specifically recognize certain allergens and have interactions with its known receptors which include a high affinity receptor FcεRI and low affinity receptor FcεRII, resulting in mediating inflammatory reactions. Such inflammatory reactions lead to symptoms associated with allergy and diseases such as, for example, asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis. Individuals with diseases of altered IgE regulation (such as, for example, atopic individuals and individuals with hyper-IgE syndrome) can have as much as ten times the normal level of IgE in their blood.
As an example of an altered IgE regulation disease, asthma is a disease that affects the airways of a patient, thereby making breathing difficult. Asthma can tighten the muscles around the airways thereby restricting the air moving into and out of the lungs. Symptoms of asthma can include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and a tight feeling in the chest.
Existing approaches in asthma therapy, for example, effect treatment after IgE has been made and/or binds to its antigen. This approach is undesirable in that IgE that has interacted with an antigen has the capability of resulting in unwanted immune reactions, as noted above. Further, IgE that has already been made has the opportunity to interact and bind with its antigen, thereby facilitating the same undesirable immune reactions.
Accordingly, there exists a need for techniques to treat one or more diseases of altered IgE regulation which do not suffer from the above-noted problems associated with conventional treatment methodologies.